


Risk It All ('cause i'll catch you if you fall)

by foghaslifted



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Memory Loss, New Dream Week 2021 (Disney), takes place in season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:21:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29578803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foghaslifted/pseuds/foghaslifted
Summary: Rapunzel's memories since she left the tower are completely wiped. She doesn't recognize her friends (besides Eugene) and Eugene needs to keep her calm and secure until they can find a way to regain her memories.At the same time, Rapunzel starts connecting some dots as to what really happened to her.
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	Risk It All ('cause i'll catch you if you fall)

**Author's Note:**

> so this one is kind of exciting bc ive had this idea in my head since before Rapunzel Day One even aired (back when i was a Closeted Fan™️ haha) so then when i watched the episode i was like "so not only did they STEAL my idea, they also did it WRONG" /j  
> so i didnt write this bc i thought that it was very similar to RDO, but then when i saw that today theme for NDAW was "Memories" my brain said "well i guess i have to now"
> 
> this takes place at some point in season 2 before the Great Tree. also dont think about where Hookfoot, Shorty, and Pascal are. i purposely excluded Hookfoot and Shorty, but i completely forgot about Pascal until i was almost finished writing it, then i couldnt figure out where to fit him in. so we're just ignoring him (sorry Pascal)
> 
> title inspired by If My Heart Was a House by Owl City

“Eugene, if you don’t stop that pacing, I’m going to break your legs,” Cass growled.

“Sorry,” he said, opting to sit down in a nearby chair instead, but he couldn’t stop his leg from bouncing nervously.

A merchant in town had been showing off her potions, and one of them had rendered Rapunzel unconscious. The merchant swore to them that she would wake up naturally, but that honestly hadn’t calmed Eugene down at all. He had made a mental note of her face so he could find her and kill her if Rapunzel didn’t wake up.

Eugene, Cassandra, and Lance had brought Rapunzel to lie in a bed in the caravan as they watched over her. She had been unconscious for a while, with no clear sign that she was going to wake up, which was driving him crazy.

He leaned over and checked her pulse for the 50th time in the past hour. It was still normal, which only made him feel slightly better for about 10 seconds. 

“How long has she been out?” he asked.

“About 5 minutes longer than the last time you asked,” Cass mumbled. She was stressed too, but was clearly dealing with it very differently than him. He had been full of nervous energy ever since she went down, while Cassandra had just slowly gotten increasingly aggressive.

“Eugene, buddy, why don’t you go take a walk to clear your-” Lance started to suggest.

“No, I’m staying here,” he interrupted. He glanced at Rapunzel, still out cold. He internally cursed himself for not doing more to keep her safe. He should have steered them all away from the merchant as soon as she started dealing with her weird magic stuff. He should have made sure she never got hurt. 

As he mentally berated himself, he realized she was starting to stir. His heartbeat quickened as she took a breath and slowly started to lift herself up.

“Wha-”

“Blondie!” he exclaimed, engulfing her in a hug. He squeezed her tightly, relief washing over him. _She’s okay, nothing happened, it’s fine,_ he told himself as he held his love. 

“Flynn… what’s going on?” she asked, slightly struggling away from him.

Everything froze for a moment. _Did she just call me…_

He let her go and pulled away to look at her confused face, then glanced over to Cassandra and Lance. They looked as shocked and scared as he was feeling. “What did you say?” 

“I asked what’s going on,” she answered, straightening her back. She looked over to the others. “And who are they?”

Cass’s eyes widened as she tried to understand what her friend was saying. “Rapunzel, what’s the last thing you remember before you woke up?” she asked, as calmly as she could.

Rapunzel’s brow furrowed. “Um… Flynn and I were just about to leave my home to go to the kingdom,” she answered, unsure of whether or not she should be telling them. 

Eugene’s stomach twisted. She hadn't called him "Flynn" since he first told her his real name. Hearing her use that name felt like nails on a chalkboard. He had been "Flynn" for almost half his life, but Rapunzel calling him Flynn again put a bitter taste in his mouth.

The potion must have erased all her memories since leaving the tower. That was almost _a year and a half_ of memories. She didn’t remember him or her friends or her parents or _anything._ His thoughts started to spiral. Would they be able to restore her memories? Could she really just forget everything that has happened? Would she have to relearn everything after she had spent so long getting used to the world?

“ _Flynn,_ can we talk?” Cass said, grabbing him by the ear and dragging him outside. “You too, Lance.”

When the three of them had left the caravan, Eugene automatically started pacing nervously again. “What are we gonna do? Are her memories going to be gone forever?” 

“Don’t worry, we’ll find a way to get them back. I’ll bet that merchant has some kind of reverse potion we can get,” Lance reassured him, not entirely believing his own words.

“What if she won’t give it to us?” he asked, speeding up his pacing back and forth.

“I have multiple weapons on me, I think I can persuade her,” Cass said shortly. “Lance and I will go find the merchant. In the meantime, you watch Rapunzel and keep her out of trouble.”

“Why me?”

“She knows you, and at least kind of trusts you. And we can’t just leave fresh-out-of-the-tower Rapunzel on her own.”

Eugene scoffed. “You’re really not giving her enough credit. Even right out of the tower, she was pretty capable of handling herself.”

Cass raised an eyebrow. “She told me she nearly had a heart attack over a bunny in a bush.”

“That’s… out of context. But fine, I’ll make sure she doesn’t get hurt,” he agreed. “But be quick finding the antidote.”

“Great, we’ll be back as soon as possible,” she said. “Also, make sure not to tell her too much.”

Eugene looked at her like she had just told him to cut both his arms off. “Are you _serious_? Why?”

“First of all, we don’t know if whatever antidote we find will regenerate her memories correctly if we tell her everything. Second, a lot has happened over the past year. It would scare her.”

He wanted to argue more, but instead just sighed. The longer they had this conversation, the longer Rapunzel had to stay without her memories. “Fine, fine, I’ll keep details to a minimum.”

“Good luck,” Lance chimed in, patting his friend’s shoulder in an effort to comfort him. “We’ll go as fast as we can.”

Eugene smiled in thanks as the two of them walked away. He sighed, getting ready to go back inside to talk to Rapunzel. He took a deep breath, trying to quell his nerves. _Cass and Lance are getting a cure, it’s gonna be okay. She’ll be okay. There’s absolutely no reason to be nervous._ He pushed open the door to see Rapunzel still sitting up on the bed they had left her in, her knees tucked to her chest.

“Where’d your friends go?” she asked.

“Theyyyyy..., well, see, you, uh… you kind of lost some of your memories. They’re trying to see if they can find a way to get them back,” he explained. _Way to act natural, Fitzherbert._

The look on her face made Eugene understand why Cass said that too much information would be an overload. She looked shocked just knowing she had lost memories in the first place, he couldn’t imagine how she would feel _knowing_ all the memories she had lost.

“I lost my memories? How long has it been?”

He cringed a little bit. There was no way he could _lie_ to her, but he didn’t know how she would react to finding out just how much she had forgotten.

“A little over a year,” he told her. Her eyes widened even more.

“A _year_? And I’ve forgotten all of it? What happened?”

“We’re not entirely sure, but like I said, my friends are working on getting them back,” he insisted, trying to reassure not just her, but himself too. He stuck out a thumbs up for good measure, which didn’t seem to convince her very much. “So I guess we just... wait for them to come back.”

She nodded as they fell into silence. He sat down to keep himself from pacing again. He didn’t want her to see that he was nervous or she would get nervous, and he was trying to keep her as steady as he could. She must already be on edge from finding out about her lost memories, plus she didn’t _really_ know him. Not like she should. 

He wanted to scream thinking about what she must think of him right now. She only knew _Flynn Rider_. The guy that had only agreed to help her after she forced him to. The guy that was trying to trick her into giving him the crown back. Great.

He looked over at her, watching her brush her fingers through her hair awkwardly from where she was seated. For the first time ever, he had no idea how to talk to her. He wasn’t sure he could hold a whole conversation with her without either revealing everything or lying, and both of those options weren’t exactly ideal.

So they sat in silence.

~

The silence was killing her. She could tell there was something Flynn wasn’t telling her, but she couldn’t figure out what it could be. She had lost _over a year_ of her memories. She didn’t know where she was, or who those people in the room when she woke up were. She didn’t even recognize the dress she was wearing.

Not to mention, Flynn was acting strange. From the short interaction she had had with him before (well, that she remembered, that is), she knew that he was very outspoken. Now, he was acting nervous and quiet, fidgeting uncomfortably from across the room. 

“So, Flynn,” she piped up. “Did we get to see the lanterns?”

She noticed the way he smiled a bit as he answered, “Yeah. Trust me, it was just as magical as you dreamed.”

“So why are you still with me?”

His head shot up, his face filled with a mix of shock and concern. “What?”

She shrugged. “I was going to keep up my end of the deal and give your satchel back once we saw the lanterns. Why didn’t you leave after you got it back?”

He hesitated, then smiled again and answered, “I found something worth a lot more to me than that crown.”

She waited for him to continue, but it was clear that he wasn’t going to explain further. _That was… cryptic,_ she thought. She didn’t know how much that crown was worth, but given how badly he wanted it, it was probably a lot. What did he find that was worth more than that?

She still needed answers to what was going on. A _lot_ must have changed in the past year. “Does Mother know where I am?” That question had been in the back of her head since Flynn told her that she lost a year of memories, but she was almost scared of the answer. Surely Mother would be worried that she wasn’t in her tower. Or maybe Mother had found out that she had left, and saw that Rapunzel really _was_ ready for the world. That must be it, right? 

“Your Mother isn’t really concerned about where you are anymore,” Flynn said quietly.

Rapunzel was conflicted with this answer. That _must_ mean that Mother had let her out to see the world! And the scary girl and tall man that had been in the room when she woke up were her new friends!

But why wouldn’t he tell her that? What was he hiding? 

The most concerning part of his answer was the fact that he had added “anymore” onto the end. Did he say that because something had happened to Mother? Was she hurt?

_And why isn’t he giving me any straight answers?_

Something was clearly wrong. Flynn was watching over her instead of leaving like he had been trying to before. And he wouldn’t tell her anything about what was really going on. 

Slowly, the pieces started to fall into place.

He had done something to Mother. He must have hurt her to keep her away. Mother would never leave Rapunzel on her own in the world, she was _always_ concerned with her safety. Plus, Flynn said he found something worth more than the crown. He must have found out about her hair, and wanted to keep it for himself. 

Mother had always told her that people would only want her for her hair, and she was right. Flynn was trying to use her hair for himself, and his ruffian friends, too. 

One thing was clear. She had to get out and get away from him. Maybe she could find Mother, and heal her from whatever Flynn did to her. 

She started to hatch a plan. She couldn’t just run away now, or else he’d be able to catch her before she got far enough. He might hurt her and Mother even more than he already must have.

She had to find a way to get out of this room so she could find a way away from him. Sometimes she could get what she wanted from Mother when she tried to gain sympathy, so she could try it on Flynn, too. Maybe she could find some kindness from him if he didn’t suspect anything? 

~

“I guess I don’t have any memories of being outside the tower,” Rapunzel said. “What’s it like?” Eugene felt his heart sink. Not only was he giving incredibly vague responses whenever she tried to talk to him, he was actively keeping her trapped in this room.

He really wasn’t any better than Gothel. 

She couldn’t remember any of the world. She _loved_ the world, even if she didn’t know it at the moment. And now _he_ was the one keeping her away from it.

So, screw what CassANdra would say, he was going to help Rapunzel experience the world for the first time again. “You know what, Blondie, maybe we should get some fresh air.” 

Her face lit up in the way that always made his heart melt. Knowing she didn’t remember their relationship at all was eating him up inside, since all he wanted to do was sweep her up in his arms and kiss her. 

He’d make sure to do that once Cass and Lance found a way to restore her memories.

~

The first part of her plan had worked. He had agreed to let her go outside. She was coming up with her plan on the fly, but she was confident that she could figure it out. All she had to do was find a way to get away from Flynn. From there, she just needed to find out how far she was from the Tower, and figure out how to get back. Once the sun went down, she might be able to use the stars to find her way. 

Right now, though, she had to focus on getting Flynn off her trail. Which would be hard, since he was right next to her, watching as she was leaving the caravan. 

As she took her first step outside the door, she realized this really _would_ be her first memory of being outside. The last thing she remembered was right before her foot hit the grass, so she had no recollection of how it felt.

Forgetting the situation at hand for just a moment, she couldn’t help but smile as she looked around, feeling the soft ground beneath her feet and the light breeze on her face. She shuffled her feet as the grass brushed against her skin. The sun looked different from on the ground, too. Somehow, it looked much brighter and happier. She ran her hand over a tree next to her, feeling how rough the bark was. Despite her fears, she laughed brightly. Maybe Mother really was wrong about the world, she couldn’t understand how anything this beautiful could be as terrible as Mother said.

 _Mother._ Right, she needed to get away from Flynn and find Mother. She looked around, looking for some kind of escape. She knew that Flynn was watching her. She wasn’t sure how she could get away. From what Mother told her, she was weak and slow compared to the people out in the world, which probably meant that he could catch her and overpower her if she tried to get away.

But she didn’t exactly have another option, she just hoped she would have an advantage since he didn’t know she was trying to get away.

So she sprinted away as fast as her legs would take her. 

~

In hindsight, Eugene should have seen this coming.

Gothel had told her not to trust anyone, and he was definitely not acting trustworthy. If he had been thinking at all, he would’ve been prepared for this. 

Before he could fully process what he was doing, he took off after her, trying to make sure she didn’t leave his sight. In all honesty, he wasn’t really sure what he would do once he caught up to her. It’s not like he was going to tackle her or _physically_ stop her, so he wasn’t really sure if he had a plan at all. He would just figure it out as he went along. Maybe eventually she’d just get tired and stop running. 

Yeah, that wasn’t exactly a promising plan. 

~

Flynn was getting closer. She desperately searched for the next step of her getaway plan, but was coming up empty. He was about to catch up to her, and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to fight him off. If only she had looked for a frying pan to defend herself before running away, then she might have a chance. 

But the fastest her legs could take her wasn’t proving to be fast enough, not to mention she had no idea where she was going. Flynn probably knows these woods better than her, so maybe she wouldn’t have even been able to get away in the first place.

She let out a yelp as something pulled her back. She lost her footing and fell face first onto the ground. At first, she thought he had grabbed her, but as she looked behind her she realized that her hair got caught on a tree branch. _Oh no._ She desperately tried to yank it away, but it was stuck. 

She watched him draw near, and she couldn’t help but realize that Mother had been right all along. 

The world is dark and cruel, and she hadn’t been ready for it. 

~

He let out a sigh of relief after seeing that she had stopped running, making it easier for him to get to her. 

“Rapunzel,” he breathed out, stopping in front of her. He almost smiled as he tried to catch his breath. It was still hard keeping up with her when she was out in the world (but the fact that she was trying to get away from him honestly kind of put a damper on the feeling).

“Get away,” she demanded, her voice small. She was slightly trembling, trying to back away from him. She had tripped and was lying on the ground, her hair stuck on a stray branch.

That was when he realized how threatening he must seem. She was told her whole life that everyone was out to hurt her, and he had just chased her down until she couldn't get away. And now he was towering over her in a place she didn’t recognize. 

He cursed at himself under his breath, then knelt down at a safe distance from her so she wouldn’t feel intimidated. “Blondie, I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I know, and I’m sorry. But trust me, I would never want to do anything to harm you.”

“Why won’t you explain what’s going on?”

He sighed. “Rapunzel, a lot has happened since you left your tower for the first time. After we saw the lanterns, you found out you were the Lost Princess, and your Mother was lying to you your whole life. Once your hair was cut, you went to the castle to be with your real parents. And you met Cass and Lance, who are the people you saw earlier. And you touched a black rock that made you grow all your hair back, and now we’re following the trail that these rocks are making.”

Talk about an information overload. He really should have been easing her into all that information instead of spewing everything at her all at once, but it’s too late now. 

Her expression had gone from terrified to confused, like she was trying to decide whether or not to believe him. A flurry of emotions flickered across her face as she tried to process everything.

“But you didn’t explain why _you’re_ here,” she said after a beat of silence. “What was worth more to you than the crown?”

“ _You_ are! You are worth more to me than any crown ever could be,” he exclaimed. “I fell in love with you, Rapunzel. I fell in love with you the minute I saw you for the first time, and I fell in love with you again at the campfire, then again when we watched the lantern festival together. I fall in love with you again and again every day, and there is _nothing_ worth more to me than you. _That’s_ why I’m here. Because I love you.”

If he hadn’t already scared her, he definitely had now. Eugene wanted to kick himself for confessing his undying love while she barely remembered him at all, but it all just came pouring out. He had to pretend to not be in love with her for only an hour and it was too much for him. He hoped she wasn’t completely scared of him, though he figured he had probably already freaked her out.

Her eyes widened as she thought about everything he said. At least it seemed like she knew he was telling the truth. He was about to apologize for dumping all that on her at once when started to move towards him.

“Eugene?”

His heart fluttered as he looked into her eyes. He hadn’t told her his name. She _knew_ him, at least a little bit. A soft smile broke out across his face. “Hey Sunshine.”

Before he knew what was happening, she ran up to him and pressed their lips together.

~

As she kissed Eugene, all her memories slowly made their way back. She was starting to see clear pictures of everything she had forgotten. The lanterns, of course, were sticking out in the front of her mind. That moment meant everything to her, and all her memories truly center around it.

She wrapped her arms around Eugene’s neck and pulled him closer, deeper into their kiss. Memories continued to pop up. Her family, her friends, her kingdom. She had only been without those memories for a short amount of time, but gaining them back was so relieving. 

“Well, I was _going_ to come back with bad news, but it looks like you’ve got it handled.”

They broke apart to see Cass and Lance standing a few meters back. “Hey, Cass,” Rapunzel greeted brightly. “No antidote?”

“No, but I did make sure to turn that merchant in for drugging you.”

Lance ran up to her and scooped her up into a hug. “Aw, I’m so glad you’re okay, Princess!” he gushed. She giggled and returned his embrace. 

“I’m glad to be back,” she responded.

“Alright, sorry for interrupting the moment, you two go ahead and go back to making out,” Lance declared as he set Rapunzel down. She felt her face warm and she glanced over to Eugene, who rolled his eyes.

“Well, when you set the mood like _that_ ,” Eugene snorted. He grabbed Rapunzel’s hand and grinned at her. “Y’know, I’d hate to inflate my own ego, but it _is_ a fact that our kiss was so spectacular it brought all your memories back.”

Cass groaned in annoyance. Rapunzel laughed and lifted herself onto her toes to kiss his cheek. “It was pretty magical,” she agreed between giggles.

~

That night, Rapunzel had insisted on sleeping in the same bed as Eugene, saying that being with him was helping her memories. He knew that was true, although he was pretty sure she mostly just wanted to spend the night with him. Not that he was complaining about it.

“Are you doing alright?” he asked.

She nodded. “I think almost all my memories are back now.”

“How are you feeling, though?”

She paused for a few seconds before answering. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “It was… strange to go back to thinking the world was out to get me. And I was so worried about Moth- about Gothel and what she would think. I guess sometimes I still think about what Gothel would think of me now.”

Eugene grabbed her hand and gently brought it to his lips. He knew that she still thought about Gothel. That wasn’t her fault, that woman had raised her for 18 years, and manipulated her every thought all the while. But it still hurt that she felt like that (and it made him a little upset that the frog was the one that got to trip that witch out of the window and not him). 

“I’m sorry for running away from you,” she said as she turned to face him. 

“You don’t need to apologize for that, I should have been telling you the truth from the beginning. You had every right to run away from the creepy guy that refused to give an actual answer.”

She smiled softly and rested her forehead against his. “Also, thank you for helping me discover the world again. There’s no one else I’d rather have by my side when I see the world for the first time for the second time.”

He laughed. “That was all you, both times. All I did was stand aside so you could be a part of the world like you were meant to.” 

Her eyelids started to droop as she snuggled up closer to him. He smiled as her eyes drifted shut, and he assumed she had fallen asleep until she spoke up once last time.

“I feel the same way about you, you know. What you said about falling in love every day. I do, too, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she mumbled.

He was almost glad her eyes were shut, otherwise she would have seen the way he smiled like an idiot hearing her say that. He knew she loved him, but it still caught him a bit off guard every time he heard her say it. 

He kissed her forehead and rested his head down on her pillow. “I love you, Sunshine.”

He only received a snore in response, but he didn’t mind. Getting to hold her in his arms was more than enough as he drifted off to sleep himself, replaying all his memories with her in his head, and thinking about all the new memories they would make.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i'm gonna miss New Dream Appreciation Week :( i didn't participate in all the days but i liked what i made for the ones i did, and i LOVED seeing everyones work 🥰 i'm so excited for the next one!! in the meantime i have plenty of other ideas ill be posting ;)
> 
> thank you to @gleamful-lanterns and @autumn-ravenclaw on tumblr for putting it together!!  
> (and if you want, you can follow me on tumblr @thefoghaslifted !)


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